In his father's footsteps: Cy Young winner Drabek excited son's pro career has begun

Mike Jones

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Now that 2006 The Woodlands High School graduate Kyle Drabek has begun his professional baseball career, a very interested Cy Young Award winner can now enjoy watching his son's progress as he strives to make it to the major leagues.

"We're excited about it," said Doug Drabek. "He was ready to go and start getting on with it. I'm glad everything's done (contract was signed). He's down there, getting in the groove of things."

Drabek, who won the National League's top pitching award in 1990 as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates and later pitched for the Astros, knows the road his son faces as he starts his career in the minor leagues with the Phillies' rookie team in Clearwater, Florida.

"It's not going to be like high school ball," said Drabek, whose son helped lead the Highlanders to the 2006 UIL 5A State Championship in Round Rock in June. "They want to win, but more than anything they work on development. He's not going to throw 100 pitches every time. They keep everybody on a pitch limit. In high school you're always taking infield and batting practice. It's going to be a little different now with him just pitching. He'll have to get used to days in between and throwing on the side."

Kyle, who batted .427 with 12 home runs and was 14-0 with a 1.00 ERA and 155 strikeouts on the mound in his senior year at TWHS, could keep up his hitting with extra work on the cages after practice. Doug, who also was a potent offensive force in high school, only had three at-bats in college at the University of Houston and didn't hit in a game again until he joined the Pirates.

"I thought that it would be easy to pick back up but it wasn't," said Drabek, who batted .166 with two homers as a pro. "It was the biggest adjustment I had to make, learning how to hit again and learning how to bunt."

Kyle Drabek, whose team stays two to a room at a hotel in Clearwater, could work his way to the Phillies' short season "A" ball team in Batavia, New York, in August.

"I'm glad he's finally started," said Drabek. "He's liking it. It's a little bit of a different scenario than he's used to. In high school there were good crowds and every game seemed important. This is more of a developmental league, just getting his feet wet in the minors. But, he's enjoying it."